Frost Florida Elevates the Looks for Dana-Farber Fundraiser in Palm Beach
Frost Florida is a full service production house that offers lighting, video, audio, staging, soft goods and scenic solutions from its location in Deerfield Beach, in the Fort Lauderdale area. The company, founded in the 1970’s with offices in Chicago and New York, first ventured into the Florida market in 1997, and expanded its presence there significantly in recent years.
The Florida office originally catered only to supplying high-end social events with decorative lighting, scenic and soft goods. Under the leadership of general manager Matthew MacPherson, who joined the company in 2012, the location has flourished, expanding its array of services. Looking ahead, the Florida office’s capabilities will be expanding even further with the addition of a previz suite.
As Frost Florida has grown, so has its relationship with longtime clients. This year marked the fifth year that Frost Florida has partnered with the Palm Beach, FL office of the Boston-based Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to provide lighting, audio, and video solutions for their fundraising events.
Dana-Farber’s 28th annual Discovery Celebration event took place Feb. 9 at The Breakers Resort in Palm Beach. The event was held at the resort’s Ponce De Leon Ballroom and featured a performance by singer/actor Josh Groban. Previous years have included David Foster, James Taylor and vocalists from The Voice as headliners.
Elevating the Ambience
Drawing on its extensive experience in turning basic ballroom environments into aesthetically appealing event spaces, Frost Florida worked to ensure that both the featured artist and attendees would find the Discovery Celebration would be impressive, on both an artistic and technical level.
“Ultimately we are in an aesthetically driven industry,” says MacPherson. “Equipment not only needs to function precisely, it has to do so in an environment that is really attractive to the eye.
“Because of where we’ve come from,” MacPherson continues, “we know how to do that, and because of our continuous efforts to evolve, we can execute the technical aspects as well. It’s not just about the entertainment lighting, it’s the pin spotting of the tables to make the room itself more attractive and warm it up, and it’s the drapery that needs to be hung to dress a naked room.”
Meeting Artist Expectations
A recurring challenge with corporate work, notes Daniel Cortes, the lead lighting designer for Frost Florida, is meeting expectations from the talent. “They are used to working in a self contained environment. The physical limitations in a ballroom, for what is essentially a one off, are always a bit stressful in this market,” he adds.
Communication, proper prep and up-front planning help avoid those distractions, he adds. “AJ [Pen], the LD for Josh Groban, and I, worked together to utilize the space and budgeted inventory so it worked for both of our purposes.”
Structurally, Cortes worked to provide a layout as close to the touring rig as the room would allow. The two also shared fixtures but used them in different capacities. For instance, Cortes used the Martin MAC Auras for drape illumination, while Pen used them to backlight his band. The two LDs also shared keylight Lekos and the Robe Squares, a powerful LED wash unit. Pen, of course had his show file, and Cortes created his own file for the business and dinner end of the event.
To keep the speakers well-lit with daylight color temperatures for the cameras in the vicinity of the podium, the setup included 26° Lekos on the offstage left and right trusses. On the downstage truss, a bank of eight Lekos provided key light on the band as the two FOH followspots were trained on Groban during his performance.
Corporate Event Must-Haves
There are must-haves for any corporate dinner event, including pin spots for the tables and Lekos for the various bars or food stations. All of which are clearly visible in the audience so they need to be “dressed for the occasion.”
“We do provide value-add for the more discerning clients we try to go after,” says MacPherson. “After all, we did grow up, if you will, from a more social decorative production side of the market. Things need to be tailored, very clean and precise. So now we can look through that lens as we continue to evolve as a full service production company, by paying attention to how the different services and elements we present to our clients achieve the most synergy. And the technology has to be aesthetically pleasing as well. “You have to get the tech right but you need to do it in a certain way.”
In short, “We know how to service clients that not only want to see a concert but view it from a very fine tailored environment,” MacPherson adds.
Dana-Farber Discovery Celebration with Josh Groban
Gear
- 1 grandMA2 Light console
- 8 Robe Squares
- 8 Robe DL4S Profiles
- 10 Robe Viva CMY fixtures
- 8 Robe Pointes
- 12 Martin MAC Quantum Washes
- 28 Martin MAC Auras
- 12 ETC Lekos (26°)
- 8 ETC Lekos (19°)
- 8 Elation Colour Chorus 72” LED battens
